Altium Designer Alternatives
Altium Designer is described as 'PCB Design Software' and is a CAD software in the education & reference category. There are more than 25 alternatives to Altium Designer for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Online / Web-based and iPhone. The best alternative is KiCad, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Altium Designer are Fritzing, Autodesk EAGLE, QUCS and LibrePCB.
Altium Designer alternatives are mainly Circuit Simulators but may also be Electronic Design Automation Tools or CAD Software. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Altium Designer.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
KiCad is an open source software suite for electronic design automation (EDA) - designing schematics of electronic circuits and printed circuit boards (PCB). KiCad is developed by Jean-Pierre Charras.
KiCad vs Altium Designer opinions
mcgiwerIt's free and provide very good possibilities for circuit and PCB boards design
Ease of schematic and pcb creating. BOM creation is not very good as excel templates cannot be used so this becomes a largely manual process. Most of the add-on tools cannot be added regardless of what the instructions say. Following the instructions usually ends in some sort of crash. Import/translation tools never install regardless of the instructions. But, with all of that said KiCad is still the best free alternative to Altium Designer.
to design circuits, as well as so called "layouts", be it PCB or stripboard or breadboard...
Fritzing vs Altium Designer opinions
That's a good scheme creator for arduino developpement, but it's not an alternative for professional designer software.
fritzinf doesnt allow simulation
Autodesk EAGLE is an electronic design automation (EDA) software. Enabling printed circuit board (PCB) designers to seamlessly connect schematic diagrams, component placement, PCB routing, and comprehensive library content.
No screenshots yetAutodesk EAGLE vs Altium Designer opinions
Cheaper but fully competent, and sufficient for most designs.
The Quite Universal Circuit Simulator (QUCS) is an integrated circuit simulator allowing the simulation and graphical presentation of results of large-signal, small-signal and noise behavior in circuits.
LibrePCB is a free EDA software to develop printed circuit boards. It’s currently under heavy development to bring out first stable releases as soon as possible.
LibrePCB vs Altium Designer opinions
dbrgnThe project is still fresh, but very promising. The developers have spent a lot of time thinking about proper a library file format that avoids problems of current open source EDA suites and will make creating and sharing comprehensive parts libraries easier. It is also much better regarding usability than current alternatives like KiCAD.
- Free • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
EasyEDA - Web-based and desktop EDA suite; runs in browser, Windows, Mac, or Linux. Schematic capture, Ngspice based simulation, PCB layout, custom PCB manufacturing, for electronic engineers, educators, students and hobbyists.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Linux
The gEDA project has produced and continues working on a full GPL'd suite and toolkit of Electronic Design Automation tools. These tools are used for electrical circuit design, schematic capture, simulation, prototyping, and production.
The Cadence OrCAD product line provides affordable, high-performance PCB design tools that boost productivity for smaller design teams and individual PCB designers.
- Paid • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- iPhone
- Windows Phone
- iPad
Its advanced simulation engine can handle both analog and digital circuits and features realtime always-on analysis. It is the perfect companion to students, hobbyists, and engineers.
Schematics.com empowers engineers to design, share, and collaborate on circuit design online.
